Saturday, January 22, 2011

If I had it to do all over, I would probably hot glue the foam into the basket, then hot glue the stems in as well, using my Crafty Magic Melt Little Dipper Low Temp Glue Pot (which, technically, is still in the package...since I purchased it in high school because it looked so cool).

Despite having reference photos, the final poked-in version turned out a little different than the practice run. It was kind of hard to see some of the flowers on my tiny camera viewfinder, and some of the insertion angles proved a little difficult to replicate on the first try. Oh, and since I just used the foam I had (instead of custom fitting some), there were some gaps where I intended to poke a couple of the stems.

Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with the layout.

A couple of the add-ins had to be hacked in order to be attached securely, as opposed to just tucked in for looks. The eucalyptus bits were popped off of a larger bunch, so I created new stems out of folded-over floral wire. I did the same for the smaller leaf groupings.

It worked!

Everything in its place.

The back, however, was definitely meant to to be hidden! Hey, it's proof that I made it myself, right?

After using my beading wire side-clippers to chop off the stick-out parts, I hot glued anything that touched anything else. Liberally hot glued. If I was selling this piece, I'd probably cover it all up with felt or something.

But you can't tell once it's in place, can ya? This was intended to go on the wall, but you could also use it as a table centerpiece. If you go that route, I'd recommend a round or rectangle basket, since a heart looks kind of wonky straight-on from the side.

I love the way they protrude slightly from the basket — like they're growing, or there's something underneath pushing them out. :)

This picture is just for scale. Please ignore the pre-road trip checklist and the misarranged Willow Tree collection. The latter never got put to rights after the cat fiasco ("fiasco" as in "the shelf wasn't attached to the brackets and he jumped up to hang on the edge and everything flipped onto the floor" fiasco).

Hope you enjoyed my little 3-parter! I'd love to hear your comments, 'cause it feels like I'm typing to cricket-chirping land — or better yet, become a "follower" AND leave a comment! Pretty please, with jam and jelly on top (as my 4 year-old says)! :D